Elastomeric Wave Tactile Interface

ABSTRACT

A tactile interface includes a plurality of individually controllable drivers positioned about a perimeter of a tensioned elastomeric material. Each driver includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a piezoelectric material. A top surface of the first electrode is coupled to the tensioned elastomeric material. The piezoelectric material is disposed between a top surface of the second electrode and a bottom surface of the first electrode. Driver circuitry can apply control information to each of the plurality of individually controllable drivers to produce a wave pattern in the tensioned elastomeric material. Some example methods of providing a tactile image on a tactile interface include producing a time-varying potential difference across the top electrode and the bottom electrode of the drivers so that a standing wave pattern can be created in the elastomeric material. The tactile image can be formed by modulating a subset of the plurality of drivers.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. ______, filed Mar. 3, 2009, entitled Dynamic Tactile Interface,Attorney Docket No. COW-007-1.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure generally relates to tactile interfaces, and morespecifically to tactile interfaces using a tensioned elastomericmaterial.

Tactile interfaces are becoming increasingly important as computing,communications, and gaming platforms proliferate and as theircapabilities increase. Developers are continually looking for additionalways to convey information and for novel and differentiating humaninterfaces.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following detailed description will be better understood when readin conjunction with the appended claims, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which there is shown one or more of themultiple embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood,however, that the various embodiments of the present disclosure are notlimited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in thedrawings.

In the Drawings:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an elastomeric wavetactile interface;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are top-down views illustrating the elastomeric wavetactile interface of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are illustrations of example standing wave patterns inaccordance with the elastomeric wave tactile interface of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of example tactile images in accordance withthe elastomeric wave tactile interface of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an alternate embodiment ofthe elastomeric wave tactile interface;

FIG. 6 is a side view illustrating an alternate driver of theelastomeric wave tactile interface of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a side view illustrating the piezo-electrode structure of thealternate driver of the elastomeric wave tactile interface of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating electronic control circuitry formultiple embodiments of elastomeric wave tactile interfaces;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device includingembodiments of elastomeric wave tactile interfaces;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process for providinga tactile image for embodiments of elastomeric wave tactile interfaces;and

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a computer and/or architecture,all arranged in accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless contextdictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in thedetailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting.Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made,without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matterpresented here. It will be readily understood that the aspects of thepresent disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated inthe Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in awide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitlycontemplated and make part of this disclosure.

Briefly stated, the multiple embodiments of the present disclosureinclude a tactile interface including a tensioned elastomeric material.In some examples, a plurality of individually controllable drivers canbe positioned around the perimeter of the tensioned elastomericmaterial, each driver includes a first electrode, where a top surface ofthe first electrode being attached to the tensioned elastomericmaterial, a second electrode, and a piezoelectric material, thepiezoelectric material being disposed between a top surface of thesecond electrode and a bottom surface of the first electrode. Drivercircuitry can be arranged to apply control information for each of theplurality of individually controllable drivers to produce at least onewave pattern in the tensioned elastomeric material.

Methods of providing a tactile image on a tactile interface are alsodescribed, wherein example tactile interfaces comprise an elastomericmaterial and a plurality of individually controllable piezoelectricallyactivated drivers, each of the individually controllablepiezoelectrically activated drivers comprising a top electrode, a bottomelectrode, and a piezoelectric material, includes providing a timevarying potential difference across the top electrode and the bottomelectrode of the plurality of individually controllablepiezoelectrically activated drivers positioned around the perimeter ofthe elastomeric material forming a standing wave pattern in theelastomeric material responsive to the time varying potentialdifference, where the standing wave pattern can be produced in responseto driving the drivers using at least one of a steady state oscillationfrequency and harmonics of the steady state oscillation frequency. Asubset of the plurality of drivers is modulated at an oscillationfrequency different from the steady state oscillation frequency and theharmonics of the steady state oscillation frequency to form the tactileimage.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device 710including the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 of the presentdisclosure. The elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 can be configuredto allow a visual image 14 or visual features 16 within the visual image14 to be presented to a user 700 of the electronic device through theirsense of touch by forming a tactile image 12 on the elastomeric wavetactile interface 10. The elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 mayenhance the user experience by creating a tactile sensation usingstanding or travelling waves in specific areas of an elastomericmaterial of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 where tactilefeedback is beneficial. The elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 can beimplemented as part of a viewable display type of device, or as a devicewithout any viewable display. In some embodiments, a tactile image orportion of a tactile image corresponding to a visual image 14 ispresented through the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10. Forexample, in order to improve the accuracy of finger-based text entry, atactile sensation is provided to the user in certain areas of theelastomeric wave tactile interface 10 that correspond to areas of adisplayed image that require tactile feedback. In some embodiments, theelastomeric wave tactile interface 10 presents information that is notintended for visual display, such as Braille or other information thatis only to be presented by a tactile interface.

In the case of an image that can be presented for visual display, aportion of the image, such as a scene, background, component of theimage (e.g., floor, ground) may be presented through the tactileinterface. In some embodiments the user views a visual image whileinformation corresponding to the visual image (e.g., surfaces orparticular information in the visual image) is presented through theelastomeric wave tactile interface 10. A processor in combination withthe appropriate software can be configured to determine what portions ofthe visual image are to be interpreted or selected for tactile displaythrough the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10.

In some embodiments, the displayed visual image is, for example, agraphical user interface between the user and an electronic device. Thatis, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10can be used to form at least a part of the user interface (UI) 20between the user 700 and the electronic device 710. During operation ofthe electronic device 710, the displayed visual image 14 may change, inresponse to detecting a user interaction with the dynamic tactileinterface, thus creating different areas of the elastomeric wave tactileinterface 10 that provide opportunity for tactile feedback. For example,the visual image 14 may be a web page that includes buttons, links orother indicia 16 for selection or “clicking” by a user. The areas ofthese indicia 16 on the visual image 14 are the areas of tactilefeedback on the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 for whichincreased accuracy or ease of use may be desired.

The elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 may be implemented in, on, orin conjunction with any electronic device 710 having or utilizing avisual or touch sensitive display (e.g., computer, laptop, video gameconsole, personal digital assistant, mobile phone, mobile media player,other touch screen interfaces, etc.) in order to convey a tactilesensation corresponding to the visual information presented on a displayof the electronic device 710. In some embodiments, the elastomeric wavetactile interface 10 can be implemented in or as part of the touchscreen interface of a mobile phone. In some additional embodiments, theelastomeric wave tactile interface 10 can be implemented in a tactilekeyboard and provides tactile feedback in areas of a keyboard where thekeys are normally located. In some other embodiments, the elastomericwave tactile interface 10 can be implemented in a non-viewable part of adevice, such as in the touchpad of a laptop computer and providestactile feedback, for example, in the areas of the touchpad thatrepresent the left and right mouse buttons.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an elastomeric wavetactile interface 10 in which an elastomeric material 100 is held in ahighly tensioned state between two drivers 110, in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure. Each driver 110 of theelastomeric wave tactile interface 10 includes a piezoelectric material106 arranged in electrical communication with a bottom electrode 108 anda top electrode 104. As shown in FIG. 1, the geometric centers of theelectrodes 104, 108 and the piezoelectric material 106 are generallyaligned along an axis 120 orthogonal to the surface of the elastomericwave tactile interface 10. The elastomeric material 100 is attached, ina tensioned state, to the top electrode 104. When a potential difference(i.e., a voltage) is applied across the top electrode 104 and bottomelectrode 108, the piezoelectric material 106 deforms along the axis 120that is generally perpendicular to the surface of the electrodes 104,108. The deformation may be an expansion or contraction (not shown) ofthe piezoelectric material 106 in a direction parallel to the axis 120(i.e., normal to the surface of the electrodes), depending on the typeof piezoelectric material 106 and the polarity of the applied voltage.When the voltage is removed, the elastomeric material 106 relaxes backto an undeformed state.

The elastomeric material 100 can be formed from any number ofelastomeric materials including, but are not limited to, siliconerubber, natural rubber, polybutadiene, nitrile rubber, and otherunsaturated and saturated rubbers, as well as elastomers. Theelastomeric material 100 is maintained in a highly tensioned state,described in greater detail below, in order to achieve the standing wavepatterns that create appropriate textures and patterns.

The piezoelectric materials 106 utilized in the elastomeric wave tactileinterface 10 include piezoelectric ceramics, piezoelectric crystals, orany other material that exhibits piezoelectric properties, where thepiezoelectric materials 106 and their responses to an applied electricfield (caused, for example by a potential difference between twoelectrodes, as described herein) are understood to those of skill in theart having read the present disclosure.

The repeated switching between on and off conditions for applying thevoltage across the electrodes 104, 108 (i.e., applying a time varyingpotential difference), hereafter referred to as driving thepiezoelectric material 106 causes a repeated deformation and relaxationof the pieozoelectric material 106 resulting from the time varyingpotential difference across the electrodes (e.g., the piezoelectricmaterial 106 deforms when the voltage is “on”, and relaxes when thevoltage is “off”).The rate of the on/off cycle of a driver 110 isreferred to as the driver oscillation frequency.

When utilizing a number of drivers in or around the edges or perimetersof the elastomeric material (see, for example, FIGS. 2A and 2B), theexcitation of the drivers 110 caused by the voltage and/or oscillationcan be used to establish a standing wave pattern in the elastomericmaterial 100, described in greater detail below. Referring again to FIG.1, an example standing wave pattern 102 in the elastomeric material 100is shown. Several peaks and troughs are denoted on the standing wavepattern 102 with a + and − sign, respectively. The locations and numbersof the peaks, troughs, and nodes (i.e., points of zero deflection) ofthe standing wave pattern 102 in FIG. 1 are exemplary only and shouldnot be considered limiting.

FIG. 2A is a two-dimensional top-down view illustrating the elastomericwave tactile interface 10 of FIG. 1, with the elastomeric material 100in the undriven state (i.e., no deflection over the entire surface) inaccordance with the present disclosure. In this example, drivers 110 arealigned along all four sides A, B, C, and D of the perimeter of theelastomeric material 100, such that a driver 110 on side A is pairedwith a driver 110 on side C, and similarly a driver 110 on side B ispaired with a driver 110 on side D. The number, spacing, and location ofthe drivers 110 as illustrated in FIG. 2A is one illustrative exampleand should not be considered limiting. For example, additional or fewerdrivers 110 may be used in the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10.Alternatively, the drivers 110 may be positioned or aligned in a mannerdifferent than illustrated in FIG. 2A, and need not be positioneddirectly abutting each other, such that the individual drivers 110 maybe spaced apart from one another along any given edge of the elastomericwave tactile interface 10. In some embodiments, the drivers 110 arenon-uniformly distributed around the perimeter or edges of theelastomeric material 100. The depiction of the elastomeric wave tactileinterface 10 with square shape in FIG. 2A should not be consideredlimiting. The perimeter of the standing wave tactile interface 10 may besquare, rectangular, circular, or any other reasonable shape used inconjunction with an electronic device 710 (see FIG. 7).

Standing wave patterns can be created in the elastomeric material 100 bydriving a subset of the drivers 110 at the steady state oscillationfrequency or harmonics of the steady state oscillation frequency. Thesteady state oscillation frequency and the harmonics of the steady stateoscillation frequency are the driver oscillation frequencies thatproduce standing wave patterns in the elastomeric material 100,corresponding to the fundamental mode and harmonic modes, respectively.Fundamental and harmonic modes of tensioned membranes are generallyunderstood in the art and a detailed description thereof is omitted herefor convenience only and should not be considered as limiting.

The steady state oscillation frequency depends on the properties of theparticular elastomeric material 100, as well as the amount of stretchingof the material (i.e., the steady state oscillation frequency changes asthe elastomeric material is tensioned). Thus, the elastomeric material100 is initially in a highly tensioned state, described as a conditionwhere steady state oscillation frequency corresponding to thefundamental mode of the elastomeric material 100 is included in theoperational range of driver oscillation frequencies for the drivers 110of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10. If the tension in theelastomeric material 100 is too low such that the steady stateoscillation frequency is below the lowest driver oscillation frequencyof the operational range of driver oscillation frequencies, the drivers110 are incapable of exciting the elastomeric material 100 to producethe standing waves patterns 102 corresponding to the fundamental mode.Similarly, if the tension in the elastomeric material 100 is too highsuch that the steady state oscillation frequency is above the highestdriver oscillation frequency of the operational range of driveroscillation frequencies, the drivers 110 are also incapable of excitingthe elastomeric material 100 to produce the standing waves patterns 102corresponding to the fundamental mode.

FIG. 2B is a two-dimensional top-down view illustrating the elastomericwave tactile interface 10 of FIG. 1, with the elastomeric material 100in the driven state in accordance with the present disclosure. In thisexample, the drivers 110 are driven in-phase (i.e., voltage on/off atthe same time for all drivers) at a harmonic of the steady stateoscillation frequency, producing a surface topography in the elastomericmaterial 100 of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 in a drivenstate with a standing wave pattern 102 over the full surface of theelastomeric material, where in FIG. 2B, “+” indicates peaks and “−”indicates troughs, similar to the designations used in FIG. 1.

A tactile sensor, such as a human finger, contacting the surface of theelastomeric material 100 experiences a tactile sensation from tactilefeatures on the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 formed by thestanding wave patterns 102 in the elastomeric material 100. The tactilefeatures caused by the pattern of peaks and troughs in the surface ofthe elastomeric material 100 may be larger, smaller, or nearly the samesize as tactile sensor. When many tactile features are located withinthe area contacted by the tactile sensor(i.e., the size of the size andspacing of the tactile features is small compared to the contact area ofthe tactile sensor), the resulting tactile sensation on the surface ofthe elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 is a texture, such as rough orsmooth. Conversely, if the size and/or spacing of the tactile featuresare large compared the contact area of the sensor, the tactile sensationprovides a topographic pattern, as the tactile sensor detects theindividual features as it is moved over the surface of the elastomericwave tactile interface 10. By altering the driver oscillation frequency(i.e., changing the rate of the voltage off/on cycles) of the drivers110, different textures or different patterns may be created on thesurface of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10. For example, whenthe driver oscillation frequency is increased on the drivers 110 fromone of a lower harmonic of the steady state oscillation frequency to ahigher order harmonic of the steady state oscillation frequency, thepeak-to-peak spacing of the standing wave pattern is smaller, nominallycorresponding to a smoother surface to a human finger or other tactilesensor.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are illustrations of example standing wave patterns inaccordance with the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 of FIG. 1.Referring to FIG. 3A, an example standing wave pattern 300 is producedusing a lower order harmonic of the steady state oscillation frequency.In FIG. 3B an example standing wave pattern 310 is produced using ahigher order harmonic of the steady state oscillation frequency. Thestanding wave patterns 300, 310 need not be aligned with the sides ofthe elastomeric wave tactile interface 10, but may be orienteddiagonally with respect to the sides, as illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B,or in any other orientation.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process for providinga tactile image for embodiments of elastomeric wave tactile interfacesarranged in accordance with the present disclosure. Each of the drivers110 of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 is individuallycontrollable through a control circuit, described in greater detailbelow, so that tactile images can be formed in the elastomeric material100 in localized patterns. A time-varying potential difference isapplied across the top electrode 104 and bottom electrode 106 of thedrivers 110 forming a standing wave pattern in the elastomeric material106, as described above. By independently modulating the steady stateand/or harmonic frequencies of one or more of the drivers 110 (i.e., asubset of drivers 110) using driving frequencies that are different thanthe steady state and/or harmonic frequencies, tactile images are formedat one or more locations on the surface of the elastomeric wave tactileinterface 10. The elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 can beimplemented as part of a viewable display type of device, or as a devicewithout any viewable display.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of example tactile images in accordance withthe elastomeric wave tactile interface of FIG. 1. As illustrated by FIG.4, example tactile images 320, 330 can be formed by separate, localizedregions of peaks and troughs in the elastomeric material 100, while thesurface of the surrounding areas may remain generally flat. Modulationof the steady state and/or harmonic frequencies of an appropriate subsetof drivers 110 may also produce an effective cancellation of thestanding wave patterns in certain areas, while leaving the standing wavepatterns in other areas unaffected. In some examples, the tactile imagesare statically positioned on the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10,while in other embodiments the tactile images can be dynamicallypositioned.

Dynamically positioned tactile images are not stationary on theelastomeric wave tactile interface 10, and instead may change positionon the surface of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10. Thesedynamic tactile images are travelling waves in the elastomeric material100 conveying a sense of motion to a tactile sensor in contact with theelastomeric wave tactile interface 10. FIG. 4 is an exemplaryillustration of tactile images in accordance with the elastomeric wavetactile interface 10 of FIG. 1. Referring again to FIG. 4, a tactileimage 320 may be formed at a first location (e.g., a particular portionof the interface) at a first time, while the tactile image 330 may beformed at a second location at a second time. In this example, bothtactile images 320, 330 produce generally the same tactile sensation,just at different locations on the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10at different times.

In some additional embodiments, an example electronic device includes anelastomeric wave tactile interface 10 superimposed on a visual display.The tactile images produced correspond to the visual image produced on avisual display. In one static example, a visual image of symbols on aninput device (e.g., a keypad, a keyboard, arrow keys, etc) might bepresented on the visual display while the texture of the buttons on theinput device (e.g., an outline of a key, a detent or registration dotfor a key, etc) for the input device might be presented on the tactileinterface. In dynamic examples the tactile images change coincident withmotion within the visual image. For example, a dynamic tactile image maybe formed corresponding to a cursor on the visual display. As the cursormoves around the visual display, the dynamic tactile image associatedwith the cursor moves concurrently on the elastomeric wave tactileinterface 10. As another example, for a dynamic tactile image formed onthe elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 for a visual motion image ofwaves propagating in a body of water, such as a lake or the ocean, thecontact of a human finger with the surface of the elastomeric wavertactile interface 10 provides a tactile sensation of the motion of thewaves corresponding to the visualization of the motion for the user 700(e.g., the user 700 can both see and “feel” the movement of the wavesthrough optical and tactile interaction, respectively, with anelectronic device 710 including the elastomeric wave tactile interface10).

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an alternate embodiment ofthe elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 that includes an alternatedriver 408. FIG. 6 is a side view illustrating the alternate driver 408of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 of FIG. 5. Referring toFIGS. 5 and 6, the alternate driver 408 in which a cantilevereddeformation action is utilized as opposed to an axial driving motionused in the embodiment described with respect to FIG. 1. A piezoelectricmaterial 106 is arranged in electrical communication with a toppatterned electrode 400 and bottom patterned electrode 405 forming apiezo-electrode structure 412. The example alternate driver 408 alsoincludes a base 410 supporting the piezo-electrode structure 412. Thebase may be formed using any electrically and vibrational insulatingmaterial. In some embodiments, the supporting base 410 is formed usingmore than one material to provide electrical and vibration isolation ofthe piezo-electrode structure 412 from the electronic device 710. Thepiezo-electrode structure 412 is coupled to the base 410 in acantilevered manner, such that an axis 435 through the center of thebase 410 is offset from an axis 440 through the center of thepiezo-electrode structure 412, allowing oscillation of the cantileveredend 414 of the piezo-electrode structure 412. The orientation of thepiezoelectric material 106 in the piezo-electrode structure 412 is suchthat the deformations produced by an applied electric field is parallelto the surface of the top patterned electrode 400 and also parallel tothe bottom patterned electrode 405. A cantilevered action ordisplacement 420 is produced by creating an expansive stress on the topsurface of the piezoelectric material 106 using the top patternedelectrode 400 and a compressive stress on the opposite (bottom) surfaceof the piezoelectric material 106 using the bottom patterned electrode405.

FIG. 7 is a side view illustrating the piezo-electrode structure 412 ofthe alternate driver 408 of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 ofFIG. 5. The piezo-electrode structure 412 includes the piezo-electricmaterial 106, and top and bottom patterned electrodes 400, 405. The topand bottom patterned electrodes 400, 405 each include a pattern ofelectrode elements 403 that are arranged to produce localized electricfields deforming the piezoelectric material 106 near the surface incontact with the respective patterned electrodes 400, 405 such that thedeformation of the piezoelectric material 106 is parallel to thesurfaces of top and bottom patterned electrodes 400, 405. The area 425just under the top electrode 400 elongates due to expansive stress inthe piezoelectric material 106, while the area 430 just above the bottompatterned electrode 405 contracts due the compressive stress in thepiezoelectric material 106. Since one side of the piezo-electrodestructure 412 is fixed to the base 410, the combined action of theexpansive and compressive stresses results in a bending at thecantilevered end 414 of the piezoelectric material 106 towards thesurface of the compressive stress as indicated by the arrow 420 in FIGS.5 and 6. By driving each of the alternate drivers 408 at the steadystate oscillation frequency or harmonics of the steady state oscillationfrequency, a standing wave pattern is created in the elastomericmaterial 106, as previously described. By controlling each of thealternate drivers 408 via an appropriate row driver 540 or column driver530, modulation of the oscillation frequencies of the alternate drivers408 is used for the formation of tactile images in the elastomericmaterial 100, as described above with respect to the elastomeric wavetactile interface 10.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating electronic control circuitry formulitple embodiments of elastomeric wave tactile interfaces 10 of thepresent disclosure. The control circuitry 500 may include a row driver540, a column driver 530, a tactile interface controller 560, atransform engine 600, a tactile image library 625, and a sensing module620. A column driver 530 is electrically coupled 612 to the top andbottom electrodes 104, 108 (see FIG. 1) of each of the drivers 110 alongthe bottom edge of the elastomeric tactile standing wave interface 10. Arow driver 540 is electrically coupled 612 to the top and bottomelectrodes 104, 108 (see FIG. 1) of each of the drivers 110 along theleft edge of the elastomeric tactile standing wave interface 10. Similarcolumn and row drivers (not shown) are used along the top and rightedges, respectively, of the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10.Structure and operation of the column drivers 530 and row drivers 540should be understood to those of skill the art having read the presentdisclosure, and a detailed description thereof is omitted here forconvenience only and should not be considered as limiting. Each of thecolumn drivers 530 and row drivers 540 is coupled to a tactile interfacecontroller 560. The tactile interface controller 560 provides controlinformation for each of the drivers 110 so that the respective columnand row drivers 530, 540 are controlled to dynamically form standingwave patterns and tactile images on the elastomeric wave tactileinterface 10. The control information may include one or more of adriver oscillation frequency, a driver phase, and/or driver electrodevoltages, all of which can collectively affect the amount of deformationof the piezoelectric material 106 (see FIG. 1), and ultimately theamount of deflection or aberration at the edges of the elastomericmaterial 100 near the attachment point to the drivers 110.

The tactile interface controller 560 can be configured to receive thedesired control information from a transform engine 600. The transformengine 600 can be arranged to determine the control informationrequirements for each of the drivers 110 to produce the desired standingwave patterns or tactile images on the elastomeric wave tactileinterface 10. In some examples, the transform engine 600 may utilizecontrol information stored in a tactile image library 625 in a storagemodule, database or other storage medium. The tactile image library 625may include control information for frequently used wave patterns ortactile images, such as tactile images corresponding to actuators, suchas buttons, on a keyboard or keypad for different remote controls, aswell as the corresponding control information for creating those tactileimages in the elastomeric material 100. The transform engine 600 alsomay include or have access to algorithms and models generally known inthe art for transforming a representation or model of the tactile imageinto an actual tactile image in the elastomeric material 100.

The representation or model of the tactile image can be a description ofthe physical and tactile parameters of the tactile image, such asphysical dimensions (including height, texture, and roughness). From therepresentation or model, the transform engine 600 determines the controlparameters for each of the drivers 110, providing those parameters tothe tactile interface controller 560, resulting in a realization of therepresentation on the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10.

In some embodiments, the representation is a visual representation, suchas web page that includes one or more touch sensitive actuators. Thetransform engine 600 can be configured to determine the location of thetouch sensitive actuator using a visual analysis of the web page, andprovide the appropriate control information to the tactile interfacecontroller 560 for realization of tactile images corresponding to thetouch sensitive actuators. In some embodiments, parameters for a tactileimage corresponding to the touch sensitive actuators, such as locationon page, size, height, texture, are included in the computer code forrendering the web page. Using these parameters, the transform engine 600can be arranged to determine the control information requirements forre-producing the tactile image.

The control circuit 500 may include a sensing module 620. The positionand pressure of human finger(s) (or other tactile sensor) on theelastomeric wave tactile interface 10 are monitored from an analysis ofthe power consumed by the drivers 110. The column drivers 530 and rowdrivers 540 may include circuitry well understood in the art formonitoring the current flowing through each of the drivers 110 for whichthey maintain an electrical connection 612. When a human finger or othertactile sensor contacts the surface of the elastomeric wave tactileinterface 10, some of the drivers 110 may require an increase in thecurrent flowing through the driver 110 in order to maintain the desiredtactile image. Furthermore, an increase in the contact pressure causesan even higher current flow to the drivers 110. The sensing module 620can be configured to receive the current flow information for each ofthe drivers 110 from the column drivers 530 and row drivers 540, and, bymonitoring the change in the current flow, detects power consumption foreach driver 110. By comparing the power consumption across the entireset of drivers, the location(s) of the contact point(s) can bedetermined from those drivers 110 showing increased power consumption.Furthermore, the pressure at the contact point can be determined bycomparing the power consumption for the drivers 110 with a baselinepower consumption value for the driver 110 in an uncontacted state ofthe elastomeric material 100. In some embodiments, motion of the humanfinger or other tactile sensor can be determined by the sensor module620 from a change in the power consumption of adjacent drivers 110 atdifferent times. The position, pressure, and motion information can beutilized to allow the elastomeric wave tactile interface 10 to be usedas a touch screen in a variety of electronic devices.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a computer architecture orsystem 1000 that is arranged in accordance with the present disclosure.Example embodiments of elastomeric wave tactile interfaces 10 include atactile interface controller 560 and a transform engine 600, which maybe realized and/or implemented as illustrated by FIG. 11. A system bus1002 transports data amongst the Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1004, RAM1006, the Basic Input Output System (BIOS) 1008 and other components.The RAM 1006 may include an elastomeric wave tactile interface process1200. The elastomeric wave tactile interface process 1200 may determinethe control information requirements for each of the drivers 110 toproduce the desired standing wave patterns or tactile images describedabove with reference, for example, to the transform engine 600 and FIG.8. The RAM 1006 as shown in FIG. 11 is an example only and other aspectsof the subject matter of the present disclosure could be implementedwith the architecture of FIG. 11, with or without the elastomeric wavetactile interface process 1200 as shown in the RAM 1006 of FIG. 11. TheCPU 1004 may include a cache memory component 1024. The computer system1000 may include one or more external storage ports 1017 for accessing ahard disk drive, optical storage drive (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW),flash memory, tape device, or other storage device (not shown). Therelevant storage device(s) are coupled through the external storage port1017 which is coupled to the system bus 1002 via a disk controller 1022.A keyboard and pointing device (e.g. mouse. touch pad) (not shown) canbe coupled to the keyboard/mouse port(s) 1012, and other I/O devicescould be coupled to additional I/O port(s) 1013, which are coupled tothe system bus 1002 through the I/O controller 1010. Additional ports ordevices, such as serial ports, parallel ports, firewire adapters, orbiometric devices (not shown), may be utilized through the I/Ocontroller 1010. A display device (not shown) can be coupled to adisplay device port 1014 which is coupled to the system bus 1002 throughthe video controller 1015. A network device (not shown), including butnot limited to an Ethernet device or other device having networkingcapability, can be coupled to a network port 1020 which is coupledthrough the network controller 1016 to the system bus 1002. The computersystem 1000 may be wirelessly coupled to a network device that isconfigured for wireless operation (not shown), including but not limitedto wireless routers, using an antenna 1028 coupled to a wirelesscontroller 1026 coupled to the system bus 1002, where the antennatransmits/receives signals to/from the network device. The computersystem 1000 may include one or more USB ports 1023. A USB device (notshown), including but not limited to a printer, scanner, keyboard,mouse, digital camera, storage device, PDA, cellular phone, biometricdevice, webcam, and I/O adapters can be coupled to the USB port 1023which is coupled to the system bus 1002 through the USB controller 1011.Other devices, such as cellular phones, PDAs, and other portable devicesmay also be coupled wirelessly via a wireless I/O antenna 1032 that iscoupled to a wireless I/O controller 1030. Examples of wireless I/Otechnologies include, but are not limited to, Bluetooth, Infrared (IR),and Radio-Frequency (RF). Audio devices, such as microphones, speakers,or headphones may be coupled to a sound port 1038 that is coupled to asound controller 1034 that is coupled to the system bus 1002. Expansionslots 1018 can include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) slots,Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) expansion slots, PCI Expressexpansion slots, Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) slots or any other slotgenerally known in the art to allow additional cards to be placed intothe computer system 1000. These slots can be used to connect networkcards, video cards, sound cards, modems and any other peripheral devicesgenerally used with a computer. The computer system 1000 also includes asource of power (not shown), including but not limited to a power supplycoupled to an external source of power, and/or an internal or externalbattery. Detailed descriptions of these devices have been omitted forconvenience only and should not be construed as limiting.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented with anycombination of hardware and software. If implemented as acomputer-implemented apparatus, the embodiments of the presentdisclosure are implemented using means for performing all of the stepsand functions described above.

The embodiments of the present disclosure can be included in an articleof manufacture (e.g., one or more computer program products) having, forinstance, computer useable media. The media has embodied therein, forinstance, computer readable program code means for providing andfacilitating the mechanisms of the present disclosure. The article ofmanufacture can be included as part of a computer system or soldseparately.

There is little distinction left between hardware and softwareimplementations of aspects of systems; the use of hardware or softwareis generally (but not always, in that in certain contexts the choicebetween hardware and software can become significant) a design choicerepresenting cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs. There are various vehiclesby which processes and/or systems and/or other technologies describedherein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware), andthat the preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which theprocesses and/or systems and/or other technologies are deployed. Forexample, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy areparamount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and/or firmwarevehicle; if flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for amainly software implementation; or, yet again alternatively, theimplementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and/orfirmware.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts,and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will beunderstood by those within the art that each function and/or operationwithin such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In some embodiments,several portions of the subject matter described herein may beimplemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), orother integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art willrecognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, inwhole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integratedcircuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or morecomputers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computersystems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors(e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors),as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designingthe circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmwarewould be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light ofthis disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capableof being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, andthat an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described hereinapplies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium usedto actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearingmedium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable typemedium such as a flexible disk, a hard disk drive (HDD), a Compact Disc(CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape, a computer memory,etc.; and a transmission type medium such as a digital and/or an analogcommunication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wiredcommunications link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such describeddevices and/or processes into data processing systems. That is, at leasta portion of the devices and/or processes described herein can beintegrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount ofexperimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that atypical data processing system generally includes one or more of asystem unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatileand non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one ormore interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and/or controlsystems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback forsensing position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/oradjusting components and/or quantities). A typical data processingsystem may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially availablecomponents, such as those typically found in datacomputing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interactingcomponents and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactablecomponents.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such anintent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence ofsuch recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in generalsuch a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes ofillustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scopeand spirit being indicated by the following claims.

1. A tactile interface to present three dimensional tactile features ona deformable material comprising: a tensioned elastomeric material; aplurality of individually controllable drivers positioned around theperimeter of the tensioned elastomeric material, each driver comprising:a first electrode, a top surface of the first electrode being coupled tothe tensioned elastomeric material; a second electrode; and apiezoelectric material, the piezoelectric material being disposedbetween a top surface of the second electrode and a bottom surface ofthe first electrode; and driver circuitry coupled to first and secondelectrodes of the plurality of individually controllable drivers,configured to receive control information for a selected one of theplurality of individually controllable drivers, and configured toproduce a wave pattern in the tensioned elastomeric material in a regionof the tactile interface associated with the selected one of theplurality of individually controllable driver.
 2. The tactile interfaceof claim 1, further comprising a transform engine configured todetermine the control information for the plurality of individuallycontrollable drivers.
 3. The tactile interface of claim 1, wherein thedriver circuitry comprises a tactile interface controller, a row driver,and a column driver.
 4. The tactile interface of claim 1, wherein thedriver circuitry is configured to produce a wave pattern by applying atime-varying potential difference across the first and second electrodesof the subset of the plurality of individually controllable drivers. 5.The tactile interface of claim 4, wherein the geometric centers of thefirst electrode, the second electrode, and piezoelectric material ofeach of the plurality of individually controllable drivers are alignedalong an axis.
 6. The tactile interface of claim 5, wherein the drivercircuitry is arranged to produce a time-varying potential differenceacross the first and second electrodes so that a correspondingtime-varying deformation and relaxation of the piezoelectric materialoccurs in a generally perpendicular direction with respect to thesurface of the elastomeric material.
 7. The tactile interface of claim4, wherein the geometric centers of the first electrode, the secondelectrode and the piezoelectric material centers are offset with respectto an axis orthogonal to the top surface of the first electrode throughthe center of the supporting base so that a cantilevered deflection ofthe piezoelectric material is produced responsive to expansive andcompressive stresses on opposite surfaces of the piezoelectric materialwhen a time-varying potential difference is applied across the first andsecond electrodes.
 8. The tactile interface of claim 7, wherein thedriver circuitry is arranged to electrically modulate a subset of theplurality of individually controllable drivers at frequencies differentfrom the steady state oscillation frequency and the harmonics of thesteady state oscillation frequency, wherein a tactile image is formed inthe elastomeric material providing a localized tactile sensation.
 9. Thetactile interface of claim 8, wherein the tactile image is a dynamicimage corresponding to travelling waves in the elastomeric material andconveying a sense of motion across the surface of the elastomericmaterial.
 10. The tactile interface of claim 1, wherein the drivercircuitry is further configured to electrically modulate a subset of theplurality of individually controllable drivers using a steady stateoscillation frequency or a harmonic of the steady state oscillationfrequency so that a standing wave pattern is formed in the elastomericmaterial, the standing wave pattern conveying a tactile sensation. 11.The tactile interface of claim 1, further comprising a sensing moduleconfigured to monitor power consumption of the drivers, wherein a changein the power consumption for each of the drivers is determined by achange in electrical current to each of the drivers.
 12. The tactileinterface of claim 11, wherein location of an external contact with thetactile interface is determined based on an analysis of the change inpower consumption for each of the driver pixels.
 13. The tactileinterface of claim 11, wherein pressure of an external contact with thetactile interface is determine based on an analysis of the change inpower consumption for each of the driver pixels.
 14. A method ofproviding a tactile image on a tactile interface, wherein the tactileinterface comprises a plurality of individually controllablepiezoelectrically activated drivers positioned about a perimeter of anelastomeric material, each of the individually controllablepiezoelectrically activated drivers comprising a top electrode, a bottomelectrode, and a piezoelectric material, the method comprising: applyinga time-varying potential difference across the top electrode and thebottom electrode of the plurality of individually controllablepiezoelectrically activated drivers forming a standing wave pattern inat least a region of the elastomeric material responsive to the timevarying potential difference, wherein the standing wave pattern isproduced in response to driving the drivers using at least one of asteady state oscillation frequency and harmonics of the steady stateoscillation frequency; and modulating a subset of the plurality ofdrivers at an oscillation frequency different from the steady stateoscillation frequency and the harmonics of the steady state oscillationfrequency to form the tactile image.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereinthe top electrode, the bottom electrode, and piezoelectric materialcenters are aligned along an axis orthogonal to a top surface of the topelectrode, and wherein a periodic deformation of the piezoelectricmaterial produced using the time varying potential difference across thetop and bottom electrodes includes a corresponding time-varyingexpansion and contraction of the piezoelectric material in a directionperpendicular to the surface of the elastomeric material.
 16. The methodof claim 14, wherein the top electrode, the bottom electrode and thepiezoelectric material centers are offset with respect to an axisthrough the center of a supporting base orthogonal to a top surface ofthe top electrode, and wherein a periodic deformation of thepiezoelectric material produced using the time varying potentialdifference between the top and bottom electrodes includes a cantilevereddeflection of the piezoelectric material responsive to expansive andcompressive stresses on opposite surfaces of the piezoelectric material.17. The method of claim 14, wherein the tactile image corresponds to avisual image formed on a visual display in alignment with the tactileinterface.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the tactile image changesin response to motion depicted in the visual image.
 19. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the elastomeric material is in a highly tensionedstate.
 20. The method of claim 14, wherein an increase of the timevariation of the potential difference associated with driving thepiezoelectric material produces a finer resolution tactile image. 21.The method of claim 14, further comprising: monitoring power consumptionfor each of the drivers from an amount of electric current flowing toeach of the drivers; and determining a location of one or more contactpoints on a top surface of the elastomeric material from an analysis ofa change in the power consumption of each of the drivers.
 22. The methodof claim 21, further comprising determining a contact pressure at thelocation of the one or more contact points from the analysis of thechange in the power consumption of each of the drivers.
 23. An apparatusfor interfacing with a tactile interface, wherein the tactile interfacecomprises a plurality of individually controllable drivers positionedaround the perimeter of a tensioned elastomeric material, each driverincluding a first electrode, where a top surface of the first electrodeis coupled to the tensioned elastomeric material, a second electrode,and a piezoelectric material, the piezoelectric material being disposedbetween a top surface of the second electrode and a bottom surface ofthe first electrode, the apparatus comprising: a transform engineconfigured to determine control information requirements for each of theplurality of individually controllable drivers; and a tactile interfacecontroller coupled to the transform engine and configured to providecontrol information based at least in part on the control informationrequirements from the transform engine, wherein the tactile interfacecontroller is also arranged to selectively couple the controlinformation to a subset of the plurality of individually controllabledrivers such that a tactile image in the tensioned elastomeric materialis produced in a region of the tactile interface associated with thesubset of the plurality of individually controllable drivers.
 24. Theapparatus of claim 23, wherein the transform engine is configured toaccess a tactile image library that includes stored control informationcorresponding to the tactile image.
 25. The apparatus of claim 23,further comprising a sensing module coupled to the tactile interfacecontroller and configured to monitor power consumption of theindividually controllable drivers, wherein a change in the powerconsumption for each of the individually controllable drivers isdetermined by a change in electrical current to each of the respectivedrivers.
 26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the tactile image is aBraille symbol.
 27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the tactile imageis used to represent an actuator in a keypad.